"We have two rain events that we're looking at," National Weather Service Hydrologist Matt Wilson said in a phone interview with WVIK. "A little bit over the next 24/48 hours and one more big event in about five days. Depending on how much rain exactly we get and where exactly it falls could affect that crest, maybe bump it up an extra quarter to half a foot so that we might see something as high as 19 feet."
He says most sites between the Quad Cities and Burlington will be in the major flood category by early next week. Up in Dubuque, the flood category will remain moderate.
"Over in Illinois, we believe we have had the crest on the Rock River near the Joslin gauge, so upstream from the Quad Cities, it is about 12 1/2 feet now and on the recession. We're looking at the Rock River at the Moline gauge to be cresting now at 11 1/2 foot area and on it's recession. Again it depends on the rain we get over the next 48 hours and that day five rain fall as well."
Wilson says they received questions about the Blue Earth River causing a failure of the Rapidan Dam in Minnesota and how that will affect the Mississippi River flood waves.
"Dam failures are something we take seriously here at the National Weather Service as far as flood threats," Wilson said. "With dam breaks, the initial flood wave is half as high as whatever the height of the dam's water was holding back. If the dam held 40 feet of water, the initial flood wave was 20 feet. Every ten miles downstream that flood wave decays in half. So, ten miles downstream from the dam break, your 20 ft flood wave will be 10ft. How very quickly a dam breaks can be very devastating in the immediate area downstream, but as you get 10-20 miles downstream, they start to blend into the rest of the river."
Wilson says the water will reach us, but we won't be able to differentiate it from the rain events.
The major flood event is causing additional delays and closures.
The Scott County Conservation Board says the Buffalo Shores Campground will close tomorrow, June 28, until further notice. The campgrounds at Scott County Park and West Lake Park will remain open as they'll be unaffected.
The Iowa American Water Bix training run tonight at 6 p.m. is now at 5th and Pershing Street to start, and the finish line is at the same location. The announcement of Russell's Beat the Elite athletes is taking place at the same location at 5:45 p.m.
The Brady Street sprint time trails will occur at 7 pm at 5th and Pershing Streets.
The 50th Quad-City Times Bix 7 race begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 27th. Registration is available on the race's website.
